Cono, a startling young man of mixed heritage, travels from Brazil and Stanford to Almaty and the Tian Shan mountains, covering a jarring emotional landscape along the way. The fate of an oil-rich nation the size of Western Europe is at stake. So, too, is a hidden stockpile of weapons-grade uranium. The Beijing agent craves Cono's suffering; a jihadi cell wants him dead. As the human cost of his mission escalates, Cono realizes that he must turn his strange talents toward higher deeds in the future, if by his guile he can survive the explosive present.